PVM Light Sorc Merc Gear

So I'm trying to make the godliest PVM Light sorc possible starting from scratch. I'm playing around with a few ideas still so nn to comment on my build. However, I'm still not used to the full merc inventory, nor is there very much analysis on gear setups for full inventory mercs. Here is what I have right now:

Weapon:
Infinity CV 49/313. Obviously I want to get a 15/15 base at some point. Aside from that I have a few questions. To my understanding, the - enemy light resistance does not affect my damage correct? It's only the mercs damage. So what I really want for a godly merc infinity would be a 325 ed 15/15 polearm. Which brings me to my next question, which polearm? It seems that great polaxe is the best way to go if you can find one. It has the highest damage of the very fast pole arms. Any other options that might be better?

Helm
Ebugged Andys 10ll. I have a plain ias jewel in it cause im not sure if I'm gonna keep it.

Gloves
Laying of the hands. Was going with dracs for a while and changed to these, and I'm not disapointed. We can run chaos and kill 95% of the monsters in about 330 with 250 MF on me. He owns those big crowds with these gloves

Ring
Raven 20/249. Not sure if Raven is best way to go here, but it seems to work.

Ammy
Highlords for ias and deadly strike

Belt
Nosforatus 7ll for ias and leech. Might be thinking of switching tho

Armor
Ebugged Fort

Boots
192 Eth Gores. I dont see any other options for boots

All in all he has maxed resists with 75f 75c 80l 85p. He has 2256 life and 12833 def. Also, 55 CB, 50 DS, 10 OW. For those who are very attentive, you will probably notice that I have 0 fhr. I'm not sure if this is a problem for mercs. I also have 85 ias, which bring me to my big question. The next BP for merc ias is 86, But I don't have any way to reach it without changing either: my weapon (not an options since I have to have infinity for my sorc), or my armor. At one point I tried Treachery on him, but he needed way to many potions. However, I didn't play around with other gear to build around it.

Another thing I should mention: he is an Act 2 Holy freeze merc. Is this the best one here, or should I go with something like might?

Some other things I was considering were:
1.Switching helms. Since I dont need the 20ias as of right now from andy's, I could go with Gullys and get some nice mods. My other thought was to go with dream, since it does holy sock damage paired with - enemy light resistance from infinity.

2. Getting some crafted gloves to replace laying of hands. Any thoughts?

3. Going with a 15max/40ed jewel in the helm and just going for the 60 ias BP instead of 86

4. Going for huge magic find on him with eth skulders, shako, etc and letting him get the finishing blow on bosses. Probably not going to do this, but its a thought.

Anyway thats about all I can think of right now. I appreciate any responses, and I would love to discuss this with those who are interested.

 

1.ah but your merc WILL benefit from the IAS,and an Eth Bugged Andy's is a great choice,especially with a 15 IAS Jewel in it (35% total!!!).really,I prefer it over Dream because I love the 4.8k Defense he gets from it,not to mention the added Poison Resist,and +2 skills.

2.well,I always used Dracs,for the Life Tap.it's saved him on a few occasions but,you could craft some Blood gloves,for the extra CB.The choice is yours.

3.Eh,I didnt give much IAS to my Sorc's merc(just the 35% from Andy's with an IAS Jewel in it),and they do just fine.It sounds like you have a pretty good setup for your merc,and similar to mine.Mine is an A2 with Holy Freeze,and uses Andys,Fort (Eth bugged),Infinity,Dracs,Verdungo,Gore Riders,Maras Ammy,and a Carrion Wind ring (for the life leech,and % CTC Tornado) and they do great.

4.It isnt really neccessary.as long as you have up to 250% MF,you are good to go.Any more than that,and you will find more Rares,than you will uniques.


Hope this helped out,I'm pretty much on day and night so,if you need help,you can add/pm me in game.my account is Mpmeyers

 

Thanks for the response.

Im curious why you are using maras over highlords. Using highlords, my merc still easily has maxed resists, plus it gives 20ias and % DS. I did some reading on merc IAS and found out that different polearms have different attack speeds. CV's (which I use) gives -10 to your IAS, while GT and GPA give +10% ias. So I am definately going to try and get a high ed infinity in one of those two weapons, because then I can get over the 86% breakpoint.

Also, I recomend you try LOH for pvm. If your merc is like mine, he rarely ever dies, let alone needs a potion, so the extra 20ias and 350% against demons is way better than 10ll.

Gl

 

well,I do use Highlords on my merc a lot of times but,there are a few "trouble spots" where he can die,like Act 3 Hell Council (bombarded by fire/curse) and Nilathak (damned snakes,and Physical Immunes).thats where I will usually switch.as for Laying of Hands,sure they would be nice for the IAS/Extra Damage to demons,but like I said,there have been a few times where Life Tap from Dracs saved his butt,and the extra Life Leech,and Str were nice too (CV's take way too much Str to use but Andy's/Dracs alleviate that).maybe I'll try LOH a while and see if there is much difference.

 

Agreed, Nihly is the toughest boss for a light sorc just because you can get one shotted so easily. As far as council goes though, you should be fine just giving him a potion or 2. He isn't going to get rushed by 10 soul killers while simultaneously getting CE'ed like Nihly does. As far as strength, Andy's and dracs are one or the other I think. If you are level 90+ then you should have WAAAAY more than enough for CV inf. Also I did some more reading on merc polearm breakpoints, and for CV the BP's are 56 and 89. 56 is a pretty easy one to get so I suggest you shoot for that.

BTW what is your sorc gear setup?

 

I actually do this
You can use Laying gloves, as a replacement for Draculs.

If you have needed ias, seraphs is way better choice than deadly strike from highlords(average damage done is way better with seraphs).